Monday, December 27, 2010

The older my kids get, the more that I discover that this parenting thing? It sure doesn't seem to get any easier. Once we've passed one difficult stage (e.g. not sleeping through the night) we seem to arrive at the next (e.g. becoming a picky eater). And as much as I'm looking forward to being finished with the "kid issues" that we deal with now, I don't even want to begin to think about the "tween and teen issues" that we have coming up.

To hopefully make life a little easier around here, I try to remember to encourage and compliment my kids when I see that they're displaying positive behavior... in hopes that it will lead to more, right? Well, sometimes it seems like a little, "Great job! I like the way that you played nice/shared/used your manners/helped your sister!" works and sometimes it doesn't. Everyone likes to know that their words or actions are really appreciated, don't they?

Which is precisely where the Appreciate Station Treasure Chest from Giant Party Store comes in and makes things so much more fun and rewarding.Perfect for at home, school, daycare or more, the Appreciation Station is an eye-catching and colorful way to reward children for good behavior - who wouldn't want a gift from a treasure chest? Measuring 16" x 14" x 11" this plastic molded box of goodies is simple to fill and use and, best of all, can be completely customized to the age or interests of each child.

As I unpacked the Appreciation Station and the separate box of goodies that came with it, I was amazed at just how much came included with this complete package.

With over 200 small prizes (such as yo-yos, erasers and small toys), filling up the 28 capsules was a breeze with plenty of items left over for future use.

However, as well as using the small prizes that come included (or any of your own), I really like that the Appreciation Station comes with two full pads of blank coupon papers where you could write in your own special ideas to reward your child. For instance, watching a favorite movie, an afternoon of baking cookies together or, one that Big Sister E would really love, being read extra books at bedtime. The sky's the limit!

After filling the capsules, it took me only a few minutes to assemble the Treasure Chest by sliding the inner tray into place. Then, after simply dropping each capsule into its colored lane, I placed the top on and it was ready to go.The concept is easy: once the child has done something positive, they receive a token to get a reward. With four different color tokens (and capsules), it is up to the parent or teacher to decide if each color has a different level of prize (so that the child would have to display extra good behavior to receive the "higher" colors) or if they are all the same.

When the child receives their token, the take it to the Appreciation Station and place it right into the slot that matches. By pushing it in, the bottom capsule in that lane gets knocked off of the inner platform and is dropped down for the child to retrieve. The tokens end up in a tray right into the Treasure Chest and can easily be pulled out and reused again and again.

Voilà! Children easily understand that their positive behavior leads to a fun prize and, as time goes on and they continue to partake in those types of actions, it begins to become second nature to want to continue to "be good." And with how easy it is to reuse and refill the capsules, you can alter or tweak them to whatever works best.

So, whether you use small trinkets or candy, I do really like the way that the Appreciation Station can work for any family. You could even fill the capsules with numbered pieces of paper and have the child need to add them up to reach a certain amount in order to receive a new video game or larger toy. However you decide, this Treasure Chest is a unique and fun way to do it and, as it retails for only $29.99, it is a small investment for a lasting improvement in your child's choices and actions.

With just about everything you need for all types of parties and celebrations (the Appreciation Station would be great at a pirate party!), Giant Party Store has the top quality products to help you achieve your dreams. By providing ideas and solutions to make your party-planning easy and stress-free, you'll always end up with a positive experience for everyone involved.

Plus, thanks to their generosity, one person will be able to show the child(ren) in their life just how much fun it can be to be on their best behavior, because...

One lucky person will win the Appreciation Station fromGiant Party Store!

To enter to win: Visit Giant Party Store and tell me which of their supplies or decorations would be fun to have in your house or for your next party.

Extra Entries (available after the mandatory entry above is completed; please leave a separate comment for each entry in order for them to be counted).1 Extra Entry if you Like Giant Party Store on Facebook.1 Extra Entry (per giveaway entered) - Enter any (or all) of the giveaways running on Thanks, Mail Carrier for the duration of this giveaway.1 Extra Entry if you follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway by copying and pasting the tweet below and leaving me the link. Tweet daily for an extra entry every day!

2 Extra Entries (per follow method) if you follow me with Google Friend Connect, subscribe to my RSS feed, subscribe to Thanks, Mail Carrier by email or become a fan on Facebook.3 Extra Entries if you put my cute button up on your blog. Please leave an address where it can be found.3 Extra Entries if you blog about this giveaway linking back to Thanks, Mail Carrier and Giant Party Store. Please leave an address where it can be found.Giveaway will end on January 21st at 11:59pm CST. Do me the favor of leaving an email address or making absolutely sure it is visible in your profile, I have to have a way to contact the winner. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to contact me or respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

A big thank you to Giant Party Store for providing the Appreciation Station for me to review as well as for one lucky giveaway winner. The opinions shared are my own and honest and if you really need to see more, click here to see how I roll.

I really like the Decorating Kits, with everything you need in one set. I think that the Hollywood stuff would be super fun for having a party to watch an awards show. I also just LOVE the Casino kit :)